Talk: Rise of the Rocket Girls

Nathalia Holt visited Google to discuss her book "Rise of the Rocket Girls: The Women Who Propelled Us, from Missiles to the Moon to Mars". In the 1940s and 50s, when the new Jet Propulsion Laboratory needed quick-thinking mathematicians to calculate velocities and plot trajectories, they recruited an elite group of young women who transformed rocket design, helped bring about the first American satellites, and made the exploration of the solar system possible. The book tells the stories of these women, known as "human computers", who broke the boundaries of both gender and science.

Published

20 May, 2016

Duration

25 mins

Location

Moderator

Categories

Nathalia Holt

Nathalia Holt, Ph.D., is a science writer and an HIV researcher. Her first book was "Cured: The People who Defeated HIV". Her work has appeared in numerous publications including The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Atlantic, Slate, Popular Science, and Time.

Rise of the Rocket Girls: The Women Who Propelled Us, from Missiles to the Moon to Mars

The riveting true story of the women who launched America into space. Based on extensive research and interviews with all the living members of the team, Rise of the Rocket Girls offers a unique perspective on the role of women in science: both where we've been, and the far reaches of space to which we're heading.